It’s pretty hard to safely drive your vehicle in less than perfect weather and sunshine without windshield wipers working the way they were designed.
And while most folks are used to replacing their windshield wiper blades every couple of years (or even more often than that), many never even think of actually swapping out the windshield wiper arm itself.
Sure, this particular part of a vehicle doesn’t get too terribly much stress as a general rule. Unless of course you live in a place where winters get pretty rough and you hit the windshield wiper toggle in your vehicle when there’s still a lot of ice on the glass!
But over time the windshield wiper arm on your vehicle is going to start to warp, it’s going to start twist, and it’s actually going to start to pull your windshield wiper blades away from the glass – or push those blades deeper into it.
This can cause your blades to skip, to stutter, and to swipe rather than clean your glass the way they are designed. And that’s going to negatively impact your view and your safety.
Swapping them out can be a little more challenging than most people think, especially if you don’t have a windshield wiper arm puller.
Luckily, though, with our help you’ll be able to get the job done without any specialty tools.
Do Your Windshield Wiper Arms Need to Be Replaced?
As we highlighted a moment ago, your windshield wiper arms may need to be replaced every 100,000 miles or so – and maybe even a little more frequently than that if they are particularly roughed up.
People that live in parts of the country where winter weather gets particularly nasty (and a lot of ice accumulates on top of the windshield wipers, locking them down until they are freed) are most likely to have to replace these arms.
All that ice combined with having to push heavy snow on top of rain on a regular basis can do a number on the arms themselves.
If you skip this maintenance, and allow the arms to continue to bend and twist on you, you are guaranteeing that your wiper blades are less efficient – and less effective – than they would have been otherwise.
It’s a fast track to all kinds of headaches, lower visibility, and maybe even a total breakdown of your wiper system!
Knock out this project as soon as you notice your wiper blades out of spec.
It’s a quick project and well worth a couple of bucks to get it done right.
How to Remove Wiper Arm Without Puller
The real wrinkle here, though, is that a lot of older windshield wiper arms come straight from the factory with a mounting system that is difficult to get to without a specialty wiper arm puller.
These tools are kind of funky looking but have the ability to reach back into tight and confined spaces, free the mechanism that locks your wiper arms in place, and lets you reset new wiper arms into position when you are finished.
Without those tools, though, this kind of project has the potential to snowball into a much more stressful situation.
Unless of course you’re armed with the inside information we highlight below!
Pop the Cap and Search – Then Remove – the Nut Securing the Wiper Arm
The easiest way to remove windshield wipers without a specialty puller is to hunt for a cap on the windshield wiper (usually down at the hinge point where the wiper arm connects to your vehicle), pop the cap open, and then remove the interior nut that secures the wiper arm down.
It really can be that simple and straightforward!
After the nut has been loosened the splined connection of the wiper arm will come right off of the similarly splined mounting shaft. You’ll want to make sure that you line things up correctly during reassembly, tightening down the nut (but not too much) and you are good to go.
Slip the Wiper Arm Clip with a Screwdriver
Other wiper arms are going to be held in place with a locking clip mechanism that needs to be pried open with a flat head screwdriver (or something similar).
Again, you’ll need to remove any of the cap components protecting this locking mechanism before you can pop it open.
Once you gain access to the locking clip, though, you’re going to be able to pop it loose, lift the arm off of the splined post, and then swap out the old arm for a new one.
After the new arm has been locked in place (and the splines aligned) you’ll want to push that locking clip down into the closed position with the same screwdriver. Make sure that it’s a tight fit, a secure fit, and you are all set from there!
Battery Terminal Pullers Work in a Pinch
Believe it or not, sometimes a battery terminal puller (another specialty tool) can be slipped over one end of your wiper arm and used as a makeshift windshield wiper puller – giving you the same kind of leverage you need to pull that arm free.
If you’re going to purchase specialty tools for working on your vehicle it’s not a bad idea to buy ones that are as flexible and as versatile as possible.
This might be the way to go if you want to spend as little money as possible while maximizing the utility of tools that probably aren’t going to get a whole lot of usage as a general rule of thumb.
If All Else Fails, Smack the Hinge with Your Hand to Wiggle Things Loose
Finally, you might be able to get your windshield wiper arm loose without any tools at all just by “karate chopping” the hinge itself pretty stiffly.
Sometimes that’s all that’s necessary to kind of jiggle the tension lock systems loose on windshield wiper arms that require pullers, allowing you to pop the old part off and then lock the new one in its place.
Just be prepared to karate chop that hinge a couple of times until you wiggle things free!